Axe for ID

[M ELEY]

Do my eyes play tricks on me, or is there a 'broad arrow' marking on your blade, 'Nando? I see the escution mark you mention, but I'm referring to the light tracing on the flat of the blade itself. BTW, thanks for posting that Spanish example and am glad to finally have a look at one! As far as naval vs privateer, would love to have clarity on this issue myself!

CC, glad you mentioned that Pitt Rivers museum piece. I had forgotten about that one. So crescent blades did occasionally appear on Brit pieces, but I'm assuming more privateer. I've posted pics of my boarding ax in the past. Would love to repost it here to see what you think about provenance, CC, whenever I get a chance. It has a bearded edge like the hache de borde with front and rear-facing langets, but its eye is round and the spike like the classic Brit examples.

[fernando]

Originally Posted by CutlassCollector

...Great pictures Fernando and a very interesting axe... Or it could just be a Portuguese axe! ... I can't tell anything about the mark although it would be unusual to have a marking on the spike...

Thank you CC.
The news are that the Portuguese seem to have adopted the diminutive feminine for the naming of the boarding axe, certainly to distinguish it from the long handle ones, which had and have different purposes.
So we have that the name is Machadinha, contextualy called Machadinha de Abordagem. Browsing with these names one finds several publications on the subject, like narratives of episodes of sea battles as also interesting inventories of battle ships of the period. Pity that so far i didn't manage to spot pictures of such axes.
Still is interesting to read those lists of armament equipping the ships, where axes existed in large quantities.
One such example is Nau (ship) Santo Antonio e São José, a vessel with 182 feet length and a crew of 611, while having 60 axes in 04 August 1781, had its quantity amazingly increased to 100 units in October 1785.
Concerning the hypothetical mark, i admit it could be a forging flaw, notwithstanding that smiths marks may also appear on spikes; or at least we see them in pole arms. I am checking with the guy that holds the other example, in case this ‘thing’ also appears in it. Today i gave a slight cleaning to my axe and my impression that it may well be some symbol still stands.

.

[fernando]

Originally Posted by fernando

... Still is interesting to read those lists of armament equipping the ships, where axes existed in large quantities.
One such example is Nau (ship) Santo Antonio e São José, a vessel with 182 feet length and a crew of 611, while having 60 axes in 04 August 1781, had its quantity amazingly increased to 100 units in October 1785...

On the other hand is easy to realize when the use of this tool/weapon started to decline.
We can read in ArmasBrazil...
http://www.armasbrasil.com/SecXIX/No...machadinha.htm
that, during the (Portuguese) empire (1822-1889), the number of machadinhss that were distributed was already more modest: 40 units to large ships and 12 to smaller barges. They were removed from the vessels in 1892, based on their obsoletism, being replaced by firearms and actual fire axes.

[fernando]

Having tried several alternatives to go dipper into this Portuguese boarding axe business, i am starting to realize that hardly some precise identification may be reached and, much worse, pictures are not available.
After having addressed the Navy Museum Friends Association i was advised to contact directly the Navy Museum. Having so done, i was told that the only example in the exhibition rooms was a current axe with no back pick, of later period, and a had a promise that they will investigate this subject when time available; the person at the phone, a young sub-lieutenant, had never specifically heard or seen one of these things.
Then i decided to email a national illustrious historian and collector (and dealer) of antique arms and armor, having himself owned large quantities of axes over time, of all sorts and origins, as also having been lecturer in the Navy school and directing member of the Navy Museum Friends Association, thus a frequent visitor of the vast Museum depots.
So in a qualified point of view, the following assumptions may be made:
Any possible study on these axes is unknown.
They have never been regulated, like were Infantry or Cavalry weapons.
It was up to each Naval unit Commander to choose, order and acquire the axes in the required quantity for their crew. In a way that we can find different axe models in the various naval units of the same period.
When observing examples with labels indicating the name of the Naval unit to which they belonged, further learning has been acquired. For instance, naval axes used during the Liberal Wars (1820’s - 1830’s) had various origins. We eventually used American, French, Spanish, British, Portuguese and even Italian material.
The differences were minuscule and nobody cared to differentiate them. Generally considered mere crude tools without any decoration, they were not contemplated with mindful records.

[CutlassCollector]

Thanks Fernando, that's interesting information.
It would seem that some countries adopted regulation patterns while others did not. It certainly explains why we never see recognizable Portuguese boarding axes or Spanish ones pre 1840.

CC

[M ELEY]

Sorry to hear of your wild goose chase, Fernando, but the lack of information actually speaks volumes. As CC pointed out, recognizable patterns in some navies are non-existant, but I think by using deduction, it is at least possible to determine which ones aren't boarding axes. The fact that the real ones were plain and no two specimens were alike still doesn't detract any interest for me! I love these simple, but brutal, tool/weapons of the sea service. If you ever grow weary of it, well, you know the drill....

[fernando]

I appreciate your gentlemen’s interest in my ‘not so encouraging’ info.
However Mark, this doesn’t reduce my initial interest in such specimen .
But in case my fellow collector decides to get rid of his twin brother, which i honestly doubt, you will be the first to stand a chance .

[fernando]

Originally Posted by M ELEY

... Do my eyes play tricks on me, or is there a 'broad arrow' marking on your blade, 'Nando? ...

Well Mark, one of us is definitely being tricked by his eyes
What i see is a few grooves and spots, result of rough forging texture. But i see what you meant, though .

Originally Posted by M ELEY

... BTW, thanks for posting that Spanish example and am glad to finally have a look at one! !..

Don't mention it; and if you use the link i inserted in the picture, you will see a few more examples, although not in the same context, together with some boarding pikes .. and you have a chance to practice your castillian .

[CutlassCollector]

Hi Fernando,

That is a much better shot of the mark, looks like too many right angles in it to be accidental so perhaps it is a makers symbol. Was there a mark on the other axe?

Also thanks for the Portuguese translation, I cannot find many pictures either. The Spanish link was very informative. I have seen one axe with a single "O" stamp on the centre of the axe head does that indicate a particular Spanish maker?

Regards, CC

[fernando]

Originally Posted by CutlassCollector

... That is a much better shot of the mark, looks like too many right angles in it to be accidental so perhaps it is a makers symbol. Was there a mark on the other axe?..

No there is not; however with a different handle wood and a slightly more pointy spike it must have been made by a different smith.

Originally Posted by CutlassCollector

... Also thanks for the Portuguese translation ...

The diminutive is also used by Spaniards ... hachuela, even hacheta; but the results show that in practice the term hacha for boarding axes is massively preferred,

Originally Posted by CutlassCollector

The Spanish link was very informative...

Yes, a rather interesting text. A note for when Dom Calvó quotes Brigadier Barrios in 1881:
“aún se conserva y considera necesaria el hacha de abordaje”, añadiendo: “los efectos de esta arma de abordaje son verdaderamente horrorosos y sangrientos"
meaning:
The need for the boarding axe still is preserved and considered; and adds that ... the effects of this boarding weapon are realy horrifying and bloody.

Originally Posted by CutlassCollector

... I have seen one axe with a single "O" stamp on the centre of the axe head does that indicate a particular Spanish maker? ...

Not in the quoted Spanish link, but somewhere else ? I wouldn't know, but most probably.